Hailing from Port Gateon in Orre, Leah Fridén wasn't born into a prestigious family with a long-standing fighting tradition like many other P.C.A. students. Her parents both work ordinary jobs and her older brother and sister went to an ordinary high school with nothing more intense than gym class to worry about. They went on to college, earning mundane degrees and working in mundane jobs, but Leah was always far more active and ambitious than either of her siblings.

When Leah was younger she enrolled in a martial arts class and played several sports, basketball being her favorite. In middle school this interest in physical activity and athletics would steer her into junior league battling. It was there that she learned just how much of an advantage her rivals, who had been through battle training from the start, really had. She didn't do terribly, but didn't do nearly as well as she would have liked either. Although she did improve substantially, she also resorted to getting ahead by taking shortcuts and fighting dirty when called for, which didn't endear her to her fellow competitors, some of which are at the school now.

Nonetheless her achievements were enough to earn her a scholarship to the Poke-Combat Academy which she's tried to make the best of. She's tried out for several of the school's sports teams, earned a place on a few, but has a tendency to bore easily and move from one activity to another and doesn't stay on one particular team for long (though she has stayed on the basketball team, where she does well despite her comparative lack of size). Leah had always been an independent fighter, not having the patience or commitment to stay with a team for long, but a friend from the junior leagues, a charmeleon named Axel, was persistent in wanting to form a team with her. Come junior year, after he evolved into a charizard, he was finally able to convince her.

Initially the two were concerned that they might be too one-dimensional and looked for varied types to fill out their team, but when Leah was assigned a ranpuraa roommate they decided to embrace it. Encouraged by the success of a few other single-type teams at the school the pair took on Leah's roommate Xiaoyu and then a heatran friend of Axel's, naming their team Ember in reference to the very type that they all share.

As a fighter Leah is stronger and tougher than she looks, which catches most opponents off guard. She's the most versatile fighter on her team, and while she's not the best at any one thing, she's pretty good at just about everything. While she can be friendly and outgoing she can also be shrewd and manipulative and has made more than a few enemies during her time at the P.C.A.

(Some may recognize her as Lavatits, a random morph I did a while back. A few of those will be made into characters, it just took me a long time to get around to her)